


Are You Mine?

by femslash



Series: I Want You/I Need You [4]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 03:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2213649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femslash/pseuds/femslash





	Are You Mine?

Jack lay on her cot, staring up at the ceiling. She wasn’t crying anymore. She wasn’t sure if she could cry anymore. God, she was so fucking stupid. She never should’ve fucking trusted the Cerberus cheerleader. Tears began welling in her eyes again, and she squeezed them shut, tightly. No. She didn’t want to keep being a fucking pussy about this.

She’d never let her guard down quite so dramatically before. Not for any of the people she’d fucked. And really, that’s all Miranda was. Someone she’d fucked. “Except she wasn’t, because you hadn’t, because you cared about her you fucking moron,” she whispered to herself, covering her face with her hands.

Then she heard it. The now-familiar clack of heels on the metal stairs. Fuck. Figures she’d come down to Jack’s cabin with some bullshit apology. Not bothering to glance in the direction of the stairs, Jack called out to her. 

“What the fuck do you want?”

“I want to talk to you, Jack. Please.”

Jack was surprised at how sad she sounded. Her voice even quivered as she said please. Either this was a very good act, or she was as upset as Jack was. Probably the first one. After all, she was the one who claimed to be good at anything she fucking tried. Still lying down, Jack turned her head to face her, sneering at her. She tried to ignore the smudged mascara under her eyes, how red her nose and cheeks were. It was probably all just a part of her fucking act.

“So fucking talk.”

Miranda flinched, looking like she might start crying. Jack bit her lip. No. She refused to feel sorry for her. Not after how Miranda had treated her. 

“I haven’t been fair to you, and I’m sorry.”

She paused, taking a deep breath before speaking more. Jack sat up on her cot, watching her. She waited for her to keep talking. She wanted to hear what kind of bullshit explanation Miranda had for how she had treated her.

“I meant it when I said I was bad at relationships. I had a boyfriend when I was 16 and, well, obviously that didn’t really work out.” She smiled, faintly. “I haven’t really been in a proper relationship since then. Between my father and then everything with my little sister, and now working for Cerberus, I haven’t been willing to put the time or the energy into one. Sex was easy for me. And…that’s why I didn’t want to go that far with you yet. You’re not someone I just want an easy, one-time fling with. I wanted to put the time and effort into being with you.”

Jack sucked in her breath. What was terrifying about Miranda’s little speech was that, if she was telling the truth (and based on how sad and scared she looked, she might actually be), she felt that the same way about Jack that Jack felt about her. But there was still the issue of what Miranda had done – and said - to her earlier that day. When she fucking left Jack alone after passionately pinning her to the wall, and blamed it on her reputation with Cerberus. Jack looked away from her.

“But Cerberus comes first, right?”

God, that came out even more bitter than she had intended. But she needed to know. Needed to know if this was going to keep happening. It would have been bad if Miranda was going to choose any kind of work over her – the fact that it was work for an organization that had fucking to tried to destroy her only made it much worse. Glancing back at Miranda, she saw her shaking her head, sadly.

“The way I treated you today was awful of me, and I am sorry. But I meant it when I said I can’t afford to be that publicly affectionate.”

“So don’t fuck me in the armoury. It doesn’t mean that you have to fucking ignore me outside of your cabin so that the Illusive Man doesn’t get his panties in a knot.”

Miranda nodded, and for a moment they were silent. Jack knew that she meant what she said. They would have to work on determining what exactly qualified as over the top public affection, but she seemed willing to actually try and figure shit out with Jack. Jack stood up from her bed, and walked over to her. Standing in front of the taller woman, she crossed her arms over her chest.

“I shouldn’t have fucking screamed at you earlier. But fuck, Miri, I didn’t know what else to do. Yeah, I’ve dated more people than you, but it’s not like any of those relationships have been healthy. I’m not used to taking things slow, I’m not used to having nice cheery fucking talks about how this is all going. But if you’re gonna realize that maybe Cerberus shouldn’t always fucking come first, I wanna try to work this out. I really like you, Miranda. I mean, there’s still a part of me that wants to fucking destroy you and all of Cerberus, but I think you know that too.”

“I really like you too, Jack.”

Jack leaned forward, standing on her toes, and kissed her, softly. Miranda placed a hand at the back of her neck, feeling the soft stubble there. When they separated a moment later, Jack placed a hand on the arm that was currently gently pressed against the back of her neck.

“I mean what I said though. Yeah, it’s all great that we can talk like this in private, and that you’re actually willing to maybe do more than just kiss me in your bed – and it will be your bed, I can barely fit myself on this fucking cot, which is fine for me, but not for you. But like, you can’t keep ignoring me when you think Cerberus is watching. Make it seem like you actually fucking care about me.”

“Can I start calling you my girlfriend?”

Jack took a step back from her. She hadn’t expected to have that conversation right now. She just wanted to figure out if Miranda didn’t actually hate her and want to watch her fail. This was a fucking commitment. She shook her head.

“I don’t think so, no. Not yet. Fuck Miranda, I’m not even totally convinced this isn’t some elaborate plot against me yet. I want to be sure you actually want to do this. Then you can call me your fucking girlfriend.”

Miranda kissed the top of Jack’s head, which she took as an agreement. Miranda then took her face into her hands, looking down at her. “Do you want to go get some food? I think dinner is probably just chef’s special again, but…”

Jack nodded, and Miranda removed her hands from her. Jack began walking towards the stairs when she was stopped. Miranda grabbed one of her hands, locking their fingers together. Jack raised an eyebrow at her. Miranda grinned back at her.

“I think this is an acceptable sign of affection, don’t you?”

They headed up the stairs together, not talking. Once they were inside the elevator, Miranda kissed her again. But when the doors opened again, she didn’t immediately remove her lips from Jack’s. They did separate a moment later, and walked out of the elevator together, hands still clasped together. When they sat down at the table, waiting for dinner to be finished, Miranda spoke again.

“That was alright, yeah? I don’t think anyone even noticed. Not that there would be anything wrong with people noticing of course.”

Jack nodded. “Yes, Miranda, that was fine.” She thought it was best to not draw attention to the Cerberus drone who kept glancing over at the pair, looking like he might explode. Miranda didn’t need to know that people had noticed, and that people were visibly turned on by them. She could worry about that later. For now, she just wanted to eat chef’s special in peace. With her not-girlfriend.


End file.
